“Blues on Sunday” was launched in 2022 as a monthly Sunday afternoon residency at Cadenza in Freeport, ME, with the goal of presenting classic blues covers and original material in a traditional vein that features special guests each month. The core Blues on Sunday Quartet features all-star players from the Seacoast region. 

Drummer Per Hanson, original drummer with Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters has laid down the beat, on stage and on record, with a Who’s Who of national blues acts including James Cotton, Pinetop Perkins, Charlie Musselwhite, Debbie Davies, Tab Benoit, David Maxwell, Little Milton, and more. Per also plays harmonica and sings with Blues on Sunday.   Jon Ross, multi-instrumentalist on bass, guitar, steel, and mandolin, has toured or recorded with blues luminaries Duke Robillard, Kim Wilson, Joe Louis Walker, Monster Mike Welch, and other internationally renowned acts.  Jon most recently completed a fall 2022 East Coast tour on bass with harmonica player Mark Hummel and the Blues Survivors. Nelson Checkoway, keyboardist and guitarist has played pedal steel with the Commander Cody Band, guitar and keyboards with members of the Greg Allman Band and Dickie Betts’ Great Southern, and his combo Nelson and the New Breed Thing represented Massachusetts in the 2015 International Blues Challenge in Memphis.  Rounding out the quartet is Kris Day, bassist and guitarist who is equally at ease on the electric and stand-up bass. Kris has toured with legendary rock and roll and rockabilly artists Link Wray, Dale Hawkins and Ronnie Dawson.

The Blues on Sunday 2022 shows at Cadenza, acclaimed by listeners and the media alike, included rave reviews from Mike Halmo, blues director at WMPG-FM in Portland who put an original slow blues recorded by Nelson with Shemekia Copeland guitarist Arthur Neilson into rotation on his Wednesday afternoon show The Blues Highway.